Suspected bandits, on Thursday night, struck in Kogi State at the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara (CUSTECH) and abducted scores of students.
According to an eyewitness account, the bandits, in large numbers, entered the school through the bush path and started shooting sporadically into the school premises.
The school’s local security were said to have displayed gallantry as they engaged the hoodlums in gun duel that lasted for over 30 minutes.
According to some students who escaped by the whiskers, the hoodlums invaded the school around 9pm and went straight to lecture halls, where the students were having tutorials preparatory for their upcoming first semester exams.
The students who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the number of abducted students would have been less, if the management had listened to the plea of the students to open the mini gate that leads into the main town.
They lamented that the students were left with the only main gate to escape, and with the melee and confusion, many students were caught napping.
The witness added that when the shootout subsided , unspecified numbers of students could not be readily accounted for but , said no fewer than 57 were abducted, while one student sustained gun shot wounds.
Meanwhile, the police and other security agencies have been mobilised to the school and the community.
Confirming the incident, the vice chancellor, professor Abdulraman Asipita said the situation was under control.
Efforts to reach the police public relations officer, SP William Aya, proved abortive at the time of filing this report.
